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Deoxyribose
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Diagram of a DNA double helix segment showing two strands with labeled components: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), guanine (G), phosphate groups (P), and deoxyribose sugars (S). The bases pair across the strands, and the 3' and 5' ends are indicated at each strand's termini.
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Also called:
d-2-deoxyribose
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Deoxyribose

chemical compound
Also known as: d-2-deoxyribose
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•History

Deoxyribose, five-carbon sugar component of DNA (q.v.; deoxyribonucleic acid), where it alternates with phosphate groups to form the “backbone” of the DNA polymer and binds to nitrogenous bases. The presence of deoxyribose instead of ribose is one difference between DNA and RNA (ribonucleic acid). Deoxyribose was synthesized in 1935, but it was not isolated from DNA until 1954.